Dubourg beats Jeanney in Faleyras thriller

Rallycross France’s visit to the Faleyras Circuit appeared set for another dominant performance from former World RX driver Davy Jeanney, but the weather had other ideas and gave control of the actions to Jean-Baptiste Dubourg, who never left the top spot for the remainder of the event, including the Final.
 
Davy Jeanney was in a dominant run with Q1 and Q2 dominated, but Sunday came, and with it a torrential rain that turned Faleyras into a greasy mess, in special the Joker Lap, which played against Jeanney on Q3 as he met the barriers, and it everybody sliding everywhere, his form didn’t come back as he wouldn’t be eager to take risks with nine cars on track, which put Jean-Baptiste Dubourg on top while Jeanney was second, though third placed Jonathan Pailler and fourth placed Damien Meunier were threats that JB and Jeanney should be worried about.
 
Semifinal 1 saw Jeanney assert dominance early, but with Meunier right behind his Skoda Fabia RX, he wouldn’t have a moment to rest. Although Meunier was trailing Jeanney, an attack wouldn’t make sense as both were secure for the Final, staying in first and second until the finish while Emmanuel Moinel had to rush to stay in third place and qualify for the last race.
 
Semifinal 2 saw the locals send Derek Tohill to last place, with Dubourg leadng Pailler and Laurent Le Manac’h. Dubourg and Pailler were opening a decent gap, leaving Le Manac’h to deal with Tohill for third, with Tohill trying an undercut on Le Manac’h but faiiling to put the pace to overtake him.
 
In the Final, Dubourg took the lead while Jeanney was quick to pass Meunier and take second place. Pailler was the first to Joker to get clean air with Moinel, but Pailler got stuck behind Vincent and Le Manac’h, who were without a Joker at the moment, and with Dubourg way faster than the opposition, it was impossible to take victory away from the DA Racing Peugeot 208 WRX.
 
Rallycross France - Faleyras event results
 
Dubourg leads the standings with 76 points against the 72 of Jeanney, 62 of Meunier and 42 of Vincent. The championship will be resumed on 23 June, when the competitors will be at Châteuroux.
 
PHOTO: DA Racing